The leader of the Scottish Labour Party has called on British Prime Minister Keir Starmer to resign after damaging revelations about the man he picked to represent the UK in Washington.
While describing Sir Keir as a “decent man”, Anas Sarwar said the situation at Downing Street was “not good enough” and risked undermining Labour’s chances at an upcoming Scottish election in May.
Sir Keir’s leadership is facing its most dire threat since leading Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024, after damaging revelations included in the most recent Epstein files release about Peter Mandelson, who he selected to be the UK’s ambassador in Washington.
The files included claims that Mr Mandelson allegedly passed sensitive government documents to Jeffrey Epstein and maintained ties with the disgraced financier after he had been convicted.
Two senior advisors to Sir Keir have resigned in the past 24 hours over the Mandelson revelations, including his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney who is widely credited with engineering Labour’s landslide win.
At a press conference on Monday afternoon local time, Mr Sarwar, who leads Labour in the Scottish Parliament, called on Sir Keir to quit.
“They promised they were going to be different but too much has happened,” he said.
Elections for the Scottish Parliament are scheduled for May, and Mr Sarwar said the chaos in Westminster was harming Labour’s chances of removing the governing Scottish National Party from power.
“We cannot allow the failures at the heart of Downing Street to mean the failures continue here in Scotland,” he said.
Mr Sarwar was also forced to defend his own ties to Mr Mandelson. In April last year, the Scottish leader described him as “my old friend and the UK’s (relatively!) new Ambassador to the US” in a post on X.
Peter Mandelson was appointed British ambassador to the US but later resigned over his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. (Reuters: Jaimi Joy)
But he told the press conference that Mr Mandelson “is not someone or something I want to be associated with”.
“I met him in his capacity as the ambassador or ambassador to the US, because that was the right thing to do in Scotland’s interest,” he said.
“But should he have been appointed the ambassador now? Should he be a member of the Labour Party? No.”
Prominent ministers rally around Starmer
Following Mr Sarwar’s statement, a spokesperson for Mr Starmer said he had “a clear five-year mandate” from the British people and will stay the course.
“Keir Starmer is one of only four Labour leaders ever to have won a general election,” the spokesperson said.
“He has a clear five-year mandate from the British people to deliver change, and that is what he will do.”
Deputy British Prime Minister David Lammy posted on X that Labour MPs “support the Prime Minister”.
“Keir Starmer won a massive mandate 18 months ago, for five years to deliver on Labour’s manifesto that we all stood on,” he wrote.
Other cabinet members including technology secretary Liz Kendall, Chancellor Rachel Reeves, housing secretary Steve Reed and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Darren Jones all issued statements of support of Sir Keir at the same time as Mr Sarwar’s press conference.
Among the key figures to come out and back Sir Keir’s leadership was health minister Wes Streeting, who is considered one of the main contenders for the leadership.
Mr Streeting told Sky News UK it “has not been the best week for the government” but said he believed Sir Keir should be given another chance.
